Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the budget. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge that we have seen some positive measures announced today. However, my overall sense is that these measures are short-term and are reflective of the short-term thinking of the Government. In other words, they are electioneering, and that is the only way that many people are looking at this, unfortunately.

Given the limited time I have, I can only speak in general terms on most items. What I will say is that taxpayers and citizens are being dazzled by this magpie’s budget, with its nest full of shiny policy objects, but all that glitters is not gold, as we well know. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, for example, has repeatedly warned that the Government is breaching its own national spending rule in the billions of euro it is allocating to spending and tax cuts. In fact, we know from data provided by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that because of this approach, consumer prices will be 1.9% higher cumulatively due to the breaches of the rule. In real terms, this equates to adding €1,000 to typical yearly household outgoings. Is this the mark of fiscal responsibility so treasured by Fine Gael?

While there is a lot of fiscal smoke and mirrors going on, we also need to be realistic. I understand this from a political perspective. Budget day is political theatre and very little else. This year, it is the theatre of the absurd. We have record levels of financial surplus and we are awash with cash, but our national debt is an eye-watering €200 billion. What have we to show for that? Our services are creaking at the seams, disabled children are unable to access basic services and the sick are being forced abroad in record numbers to access basic healthcare that they cannot access here in a timely fashion. Children and adults in my constituency of Laois-Offaly cannot find a dentist or GP. If this is progress, then stop the train because we badly need to reverse course. In Offaly alone, there are now 81 people waiting for GP assignment. At the end of this Government's tenure, we have a homelessness and housing crisis that is an affront to man and God. We are one of the richest nations on earth, according to some assessments, but our single greatest asset, our children and young people, are being squeezed financially or forced abroad.

Until the dying minutes of its regime and through its own sheer gutlessness, the Government has refused to face up to the measures needed to reduce the vast numbers involved in illegal inward migration. It has allowed the growth of an entirely new phenomenon, the asylum-industrial complex. This is draining billions from the taxpayer, with estimates that Government costs are now running at over €5 million per day just to maintain a socially catastrophic policy. It is the most expensive virtue-signalling policy in history.

Our farmers’ incomes have been decimated. It is disappointing to see that despite the small measures, not enough has been done for farmers. Hauliers have again been let down and are facing an increase in fuel costs and carbon tax. The hauliers and farmers are the backbone of our rural economy, as are the small restaurants and cafés that still have to endure a 13.5% VAT rate. Since last September, 577 restaurants and cafés have closed their doors and, unfortunately, we are going to see many more close their doors. This is because of the short-term thinking of the Government. Spending was not targeted at employers or the businesses that create so much employment. I am speaking in particular of rural Ireland, where the hauliers, farmers, small cafés, restaurants and hairdressers were hit by the refusal of the Government to reduce the VAT rate. We need these people. I again call for something to be done.

Giving businesses energy credits and other small, tokenistic measures is not going to work in the long term and is actually letting the energy companies off the hook. It is not right. I have called a number of times for the energy companies to be brought before us to be told to stop the profiteering. The Government could do that if it had the political will to do it.

I believe the Government will make farmers’ lives even more difficult because of the fact they are being forced to meet green targets. The shiny green policy is only deepening the economic assault on Irish farmers who, as I said, are the backbone of our economy but are not getting enough support. As the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council notes, if the State does not achieve a timely green transition, it faces substantial non-compliance costs. We need to stop the madness. We need to stop billions of euro of taxpayers’ money being wasted and squandered on green policy when the Government is leaving businesses very much alone and unsupported.

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